Odoki Jimmy
Life in his new home, Kampala
“The Kampala archdiocese then convinced me that it would be pointless to fight the restriction and encouraged me to continue with my pastoral duties elsewhere. I chose to live in Kampala because it is the capital city, and because my home was in Gulu, but I was being prevented from returning to my home.”
Father John Scalabrini being surprised on his birthday by the children he looked after.
Father John Scalabrini with Lapwony Apollonia (RIP), who was the headmaster at Cypriano Kihangire secondary school.
“I found and purchased land in Biina, Luzira, to embark on projects I could not complete in my home (Gulu). Biina Catholic parish was a rural-looking place, with miserable structures when I first arrived there in 1989. I set upon developing the now thriving urban Kampala suburb.”
Lunch and dinner with Father John Scalabrini was a celebration and thanksgiving to the Lord.
Here, Father John Scalabrini talks to Silvia Oteng, his cook and helper for nearly 40 years.
Bina Parish Church, which was built by Father John Scalabrini
In 1989, Father John Scalabrini established Emmaus Foundation, a not-for-profit organization to coordinate development projects in Biina. With its main focus on improving the lives of poor people, particularly the youth and orphans, the foundation has founded several projects to provide health, education, and income-generating services.
Today, Bishop Cypriano Kihangire Secondary School stands tall and proud- a soaring architectural spectacle on the sidelines of the Kampala Luzira Road and perhaps one of the most visible fruits of Father John Scalabrini’s efforts in Biina.
Bishop Cipriano Kihangire School in Biina.
In 1989, Father John Scalabrini established Emmaus Foundation, a not-for-profit organization to coordinate development projects in Biina. With its main focus on improving the lives of poor people, particularly the youth and orphans, the foundation has founded several projects to provide health, education, and income-generating services.
Today, Bishop Cypriano Kihangire Secondary School stands tall and proud- a soaring architectural spectacle on the sidelines of the Kampala Luzira Road and perhaps one of the most visible fruits of Father John Scalabrini’s efforts in Biina.
The school also employs 154 teaching and 105 non-teaching staff. The school is glorious with modern structures that include electronic boards in place of blackboards. Inspired by the values of its founder, it continues to provide quality services and, most of all, care for the needy in the community.
Father John Scalabrini with some of the children he sponsored at the school.
Within the precincts of the secondary school, Benedict Medical Center stands facing the school’s main entrance- a red-brick beauty with 67 admission beds for the community and 10 for students. The medical centre provides outpatient antenatal, immunization, and other medical services to students and members of the community. The hospital, founded in 2007, has become a medical refuge for communities in the neighbourhood.
Benedict Medical Center
Emmaus Foundation also runs Bishop Cypriano Kihangire Primary School in Kitintale with 1300 pupils. It also founded Our Lady of Fatima Nursery school at Biina parish and sponsors over 1000 young people in different schools and universities. Emmaus Foundation also funded the construction of a new church, the priest’s residence at Biina parish, and St. Bruno’s church for the secondary school students. They have also helped to fund the construction of Makerere University Business School (MUBS) chaplaincy and will soon complete the construction of Kyambogo University Catholic chaplaincy. Several other projects, including the Biina parish hall, 2 carpentry workshops, Radio Maria, and a school feeding programme for children from poorer parts of the country, are part of the work that has kept Father John Scalabrini busy since his arrival in his new home, Biina, 26 years ago.
Father John Scalabrini with children from the day section of his school.
“While I was still living in Gulu, I used to return to Italy every five months to raise funds for our work in the diocese. I would ask my friends and generous Christians from different parishes to contribute to our work,” he says. In 2000, he, together with some Italian Good Samaritans, formed a fundraising association called Italia-Uganda. “We use this to raise money from generous individuals, parishes, and organisations in Italy. We also publish real-life stories of our beneficiaries in a quarterly magazine, Solidarieta Per La Pace (Solidarity in Peace), for our benefactors.” The association remits about sh 3.5bn every year to run Emmaus Foundation projects in Uganda.
There have also been very generous financial contributions from individuals, Father John Scalabrini says. “People like Maria Beatrix Chupisser who bequeathed sh 617 m towards the construction of Benedict Medical Centre, Engineer Alberto Ginobbi who donated sh 816m towards the construction of a modern building Bishop Cypriano Kihangire secondary school’s day section- in remembrance of his late wife; people like Paolo Villa who in conjunction with Engineer Ginobbi contributed shs568m towards the construction of girls’ and boys’ hostels. I am grateful to all of them for supporting my cause to try and save humanity.”
Father John Scalabrini celebrated the 50th anniversary of his Ordination as a Priest in 2012 with a poignant celebratory mass at Biina and Awach Parish, the place of his first posting in Uganda. To mark the Golden Jubilee, Pope Benedict XVI sent a special Apostolic Blessing and message of congratulations. The Catholic fraternity in Uganda held masses of thanksgiving in their respective parishes, and a special mass was held in Italy to commemorate this special occasion. Father John Scalabrini’s “children” from London travelled to
Italy was to join him for this mass, for which he was very pleased and surprised.
So after more than 50 years of dedicated service to the Lord and to Uganda, Father John Scalabrini, who became one of our own and took Uganda as his home, died on 4th October 2016 at St Francis Hospital, Nsambya in Kampala, where he was admitted following a long fight with Cancer. He was buried within the grounds of Biina Parish Church, which he built.
We thank the good Lord for the wonderful life of Father John Scalabrini, and many of us are very lucky to call ourselves his children.
50th anniversary of his Ordination in Awach
Funeral of Father John Scalabrini
May his soul rest in Eternal Peace.
End
Life history compiled by: Samuel Olara, Paska Olara, Joseph Olara, Josephine Ocaka, John Ocaka, Susan Ocaka, Louise Ocaka, Christine Okene & Irene Olwoch, and Charles Laroker P’Okot.
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